Seniors will get one last shot at home win
Next Saturday’s regularseason finale against Kansas was supposed to be a rubber stamp game. Maybe a final tuneup for a Big 12 title showdown.
Instead, it’s one last chance for Oklahoma State’s seniors to win a game on the home turf of Boone Pickens Stadium. Despite an unbeaten road record, the Cowboys are 2-3 at home this year, and with a win over Kansas, they’ll match their worst home record under coach Mike Gundy.
Gundy’s first squad in 2005 also went 3-3 at home.
“We’ve got to show up and start faster,” OSU senior right tackle Zach Crabtree said. “You can’t start slow at this level. It doesn’t matter who you play, because everybody is good enough to beat you.”
Shuffling in secondary contributed to difficulties
With senior safety Tre Flowers out for Saturday’s first half because of a targeting suspension held over from the Iowa State game, Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer used a variety of combinations in the secondary to fill the hole.
Sophomore Chance Cook earned his first career start, and true freshman Thabo Mwaniki made his second, with the young pair manning the two safety positions for the first snap against Kansas State.
Regular starter Ramon Richards rotated in, along with others, including Jerel Morrow and Za’Carrius Green, with Flowers joining the mix in the second half.
“We had some new guys in there,” Spencer said. “You’ve got to get it done. Probably some lack of experience hurt us a couple times, but there were some older guys who probably gave up some things, too.”
Washington nearing Woods’ receiving TD record
Oklahoma State senior James Washington caught two touchdown passes against Kansas, bringing his career total to 37.
He’s third on OSU’s all-time list for touchdown receptions, with Justin Blackmon in second at 40. Rashaun Woods remains atop the list with 42 career TD catches.
Washington now has three consecutive seasons with at least 10 receiving touchdowns.
Quotable
Gundy on the mixed bag of mistakes that cost the Cowboys in Saturday’s loss to Kansas State:
“You talk about a special teams touchdown, you lost the turnover battle, I don’t know how many poor throws and/or dropped passes we had, and we weren’t any good on third down, and we gave up at least three, and maybe four huge plays on defense. So you stir all that up and that’s not a good thing. That’s really what happened.”